


Everyday Life for Starks

by aetherene



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Family, Humor, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-15 23:11:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11241240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aetherene/pseuds/aetherene
Summary: No matter what way you look at it, life is always crazy for a house that holds twelve people and six pets. There are never enough bathrooms for everyone, nor enough toilet paper to go around. Dirty dishes constantly overflow the sink, and no matter how many times the fridge is restocked, it’s always empty in a couple of days. The coffee pot is the lifeline of sanity for everything and everyone. But through the screaming and fighting, at the end of the day, they're still a family of wolves.





	Everyday Life for Starks

**Author's Note:**

> Jeez, this story is old. Initially written for a [collage](http://aetherene.tumblr.com/post/28738083002/everyday-life-for-starks-modernau-no-matter) I made, imagining what the Starks would be like in an Modern!AU.

Every morning it was the same: pure chaos. But that was to be expected when twelve people were sharing a home.

The men were the ones to arise first. They got the coffee pot running, and the gods knew the whole house needed that. None of them knew how to cook, but it was so easy to take frozen waffles from the freezer and pop six at a time into the toaster oven. Once plates were filled, sweet syrup was in the air, mugs were filled, and hands started grabbing for the newspaper.

"Hurry up and give me the damn sports section," growled Brandon, nearly yanking the paper from Ned's hands.

"Your sports can wait," said Ned as he took the business section of the paper.

Rickard took the world news section of The Times, and without a word, retreated to the study with his coffee and shut the door. Benjen took the UK portion of the news and started reading.

It was quiet for a few minutes until quick, thunderous stomps made their way down the stairs. "And they're off," said Benjen, not taking his eyes off of an article.

There was a small crash against the stairs and sounds of a small scuffle and barking. The stomps resumed again as Robb and Jon ran and shoved their way into the kitchen followed by six dogs. When they were kids, they had found an abandoned box with six puppies inside. They took them home and begged and pleaded their mothers to let them keep them. Lyanna yielded easily, and Catelyn was only convinced when Ned made his kids and nephew to take care of them themselves.

"I win," Robb said triumphantly.

"That's because you shoved me into the wall. You cheated," said Jon.

"Oh sorry, I can't hear you over the fact that I _won_." They made their way through the kitchen and slid the glass door open.

Ned looked up from his paper. "Are both of you going to start acting like adults or do I have to renovate Rickon's room into a nursery for both of you?" he asked.

The dogs ran for the open door to relieve themselves. Shaggydog was the only one to pause and steal Brandon's waffles from his plate before going outside. Brandon looked up from the sports section and at his plate. "Hey! That was mine!"

Jon picked up the bag of dog food and began filling the six bowls for each of the dogs. They swarmed the bowls like flies on open food. Their dogs ate like wolves and frequently made a mess. Arya did say they should just get a pig trough and fill it with dog food, and now they were all starting to reckon that she was right.

Upstairs, they could hear Sansa starting to bang on the bathroom door. "Arya! Get out of the bathroom! I need to get ready for college!" Sansa shrieked, rattling the doorknob in vain. "Arya!"

Bran and Rickon ran out of their rooms and past Sansa. Rickon ran down the stairs as Bran quickly slid down the bannister. Both went into the kitchen. Rickon hopped onto his seat and grabbed whatever waffles were left and started drowning them in a sea of syrup. Bran's sneakers crushed the stray pieces of dog food as he navigated around the kitchen to make a bowl of cereal. He stared at the little portion of milk that spilled out of the bottle and into his bowl before throwing the bottle in the sink alongside the mounds of dirty dishes.

"We're out of milk," said Bran.

"Today's should have already been delivered," said Robb, pouring himself a cup of coffee. "It must still be outside."

Bran snatched the pot from Robb when he was done and poured the coffee into his cereal.

"Bran, don't do that," said Jon, frowning.

Benjen looked up from his paper. "That will stunt your growth,"

"No it won't," said Bran. "A cup or two won't hurt me."

"Hopefully it will keep him awake in class," said Ned.

"To keep staring at Meera Reed," joked Brandon. He leaned back in his chair and laughed.

Bran scowled. He kicked his uncle's chair; Brandon flailed, scrambling forward so he wouldn't fall backwards. Bran took his cereal into the living room to watch TV, with Summer close at his heels.

Ned shook his head. "And this is why Dad told us never to lean back in our chairs when we were kids."

"Shut up."

"Seven hells," muttered Lyanna as she passed Sansa still pounding and screaming at the closed bathroom door. When she reached the bottom step, the front door opened, and Arya walked inside. Lyanna raised an eyebrow at her.

Arya gave her aunt a devilish smile and casually strolled into the kitchen. "Morning," she greeted, getting a pack of Pop Tarts.

Upstairs, Catelyn left her room, dressed. "Sansa, why don't you just use my bathroom to get ready?"

"I can't. My straighteners are in this bathroom!" Sansa pounded on the door again. "Get out! Get out! Why do you need so much time to get ready?!" Catelyn shook her head and went downstairs. A few more pounds on the door sent Sansa downstairs too. "Mum! Dad! Get Arya out of the bathroom! I mean, what the hell is she doing in ther--" She spotted Arya casually munching on her Pop Tarts, and clenched her fists.

"I think the lock's all messed up again," Arya said innocently. "I had to climb out of the window."

Sansa scowled at her before going to the living room. "BRAN!" Sansa was too scared to climb the pipe outside and into the window of the bathroom, so whenever this happened, she forced Bran to do the climbing for her.

Everyone but Catelyn laughed when Sansa was gone.

"Really now, Arya. I wish you would stop doing that to your sister," scolded Catelyn.

"It's just a little bit of fun," she said. "Besides, I count this as revenge for every time she gets up before me to hole herself in the bathroom for two hours prepping her damn hair."

Ned got up and said, "Brandon, we should be going."

Brandon and Ned worked at Stark Coporations. They had taken over after Rickard retired several years ago. Robb worked there too, but he wasn't due in for another few hours. Ned gave him leeway since he was the one charged with driving Bran and Rickon to school. Arya preferred to drive her moped, and Sansa got a ride from her friend Margaery.

Benjen got up too. "Jon, we need to go too." Benjen and Jon worked at the detective agency. Jon was still a rookie though.

It was a mess of moving around the small kitchen with so many people inside and Ghost, Grey Wind, Nymeria, and Shaggydog lying around on the floor. Ned managed to get around with the empty plates in his hands as he put them with the rest of the dirty dishes where Catelyn was washing them.

"Bye love," he said, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"Bye. Have a nice day at work," she said, smiling.

"Is dad still in his study?" asked Lyanna as she sat down where Brandon was before.

"Yep," said Benjen, passing empty mugs to Jon to put in the sink.

"Good. I think I'll take him another cup of coffee before I leave for work."

"Bye Mum," said Jon, kissing Lyanna's temple.

"Bye sweetie. Say hello to Ygritte for me." Lyanna flashed her son a grin.

Jon was unamused when he left.

Bran came down the stairs with Summer trailing at him and lingered at the doorway of the kitchen.

"Got the door open for Sansa?" asked Robb. Bran nodded. "So we can go?" Both younger boys nodded. Robb followed after his younger brothers out.

Arya was still sitting on the counter, swinging her legs absently.

"Arya, aren't you going to go too?" asked Lyanna.

"I will. In a minute," she said. She pointed at the ceiling.

It was quiet for moment except for the water coming out of the sink and Catelyn scrubbing the dishes.

"ARYAAAAAAAAA!" shrieked Sansa from the bathroom. It was expected of Arya to leave the cardboard roll of toilet paper on the holder. In truth, she always just unrolled the current one, added it to another roll before hiding the whole stock behind the bathtub.

Arya jumped off of the counter. "There it is. I'm off. Bye!" She sprinted out of the kitchen and out of the house.

"Thank the gods it's quiet again," said Catelyn.

Lyanna smiled. "For now." She got up. "I'll go give Sansa more toilet paper."


End file.
